To Feed a Queen , 0 Comments

Royal jelly – if it’s good enough for the Queen Bee, it must be good enough for you too (Beyoncè pun intended)! As the source of sustenance for the monarch of the honeybee hive, this substance clearly contains a little magic something (since hive queens grow to be at least one and a half times the size of other female bees, and live approximately 40 times longer). Royal jelly is actually a mixture of pollen, bee saliva, and a special excretion that comes from the heads of the worker bees. It is fed to all larvae in the colony for the first 2 days of their existence, but only the queen bee continues to feast upon it for the remainder of her life.

What is so special about it, you ask? For starters, it is extremely nutritious, containing a wealth of B-family vitamins and 17 different amino acids, including the essential 8 that our bodies do not produce on their own and which, consequently, we must consume in our diet. Rich in folate, nucleic acids, biotin, and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, iron, and potassium, it is easy to imagine that it has super powers! And that is precisely why so many people refer to it as a “super-food.”

Investigations conducted on the ingestion of royal jelly, which is milky-white in color and of a gelatinous composition, have had startling outcomes. Scientific studies have shown that, by suppressing the blood supply to tumors, it can even fight cancer! Not only that, but it is a wonderful agent in the struggle to improve general blood health. Royal jelly works to improve insulin resistance and blood pressure, mainly because of the presence of a certain protein called hydrolysate. High levels of vitamins A, C, and E give it remarkable antioxidant powers as well.

As a topical remedy, royal jelly has been used in the cosmetic industry for years. This is due to the fact that it contains gelatin and DNA, both substances that aid in the production of collagen. As an anti-aging and invigorating product for your skin, royal jelly receives top marks. But harnessing the health and beauty benefits of this bee material is a bit tricky. Royal jelly loses all its enzymatic properties when it is heated, so it is important to buy it (in whichever form you choose) as fresh as possible. An ideal situation would be to get it straight from a beekeeper, but purchasing it from a health food store or specialty retailer is likely the more feasible situation. Opt for fresh-frozen royal jelly, or capsules of its powder form.